


12 Days

by dalekjoe91



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dalekjoe91/pseuds/dalekjoe91
Summary: It is almost Christmas, Tim and Cassie think about where their friendship will take them.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Cassie Sandsmark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Winter Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me recently, I decided to try and rush myself to release chapters of this story once a day until Christmas. Because of this, I'm pretty much releasing first drafts of these chapters. These are incomplete but i'm stubborn and i want to keep releasing them anyway. I hope to come back to these chapters in the future and rework them again, i'll probably replace these first draft with the reworked versions, i don't know. Anyway, i hope those who read this story will enjoy it.

Like every year during the winter time, Gotham is extremely cold at the moment. It has been snowing for the last couple of days. It is not rare to see snow in the crime ridden city of Gotham, it would be surprising not to see any snow at all. Tim gets to see a “White Christmas” every year, for as long as he can remember, since his birth but who can remember anything from their birth?  
He notices a mugging nearby from atop of the roof he is crouching on, he wonders to himself as to why people resort to muggings continuously in this city knowing full well that Batman and his soldiers work in this city. He asks the same question over and over again for the last couple of years to himself, he already knows the answer but he still questions it regardless. Spotting the three victims, all female and scared to death in the situation they are in. Not everyone in this city experience a mugging but a lot of people do, he still wonders if these three live here. He grabs a hold of his grappling gun and jumps down to deal with the mugger.

Two of the victims are still in shock and the one that is not keeps thanking Tim for saving them, “Thank you!” she repeats over and over. “I don’t know what would’ve happen to us if you didn’t show up when you did!” she was crying, she was relieved. He did not expect to be hugged, it was not the first time to happen to him but it was not something he expects to happen to him. While the hug was unexpected but not shocking, a kiss was not something he thought was going to happen to him. Her green hair catches his eye, it was obvious to him that she dyed it and wonders how recent the color change is, he also takes notice of the smell of her perfume, he thought it went nice with the way she was dressed tonight. Allowing himself to be this distracted by how the attractiveness of her choice of clothing and body is something that he has tried to never happen when he started this life style, he does not show it but it does happen to him but he will not admit it to anyone.  
The image of Lynx’s unmasked face comes to his mind, he smiles at the green haired woman and tells them that the police should be here soon. After tying up the mugger he looks at them again and tells them to stay safe while they are at Gotham, the city can be quite unforgiving to those who are never careful walking in the streets at night. Using his grappling gun to head to the nearest roof and brood once again, he is bothered that he is allowing Lynx to trouble him again. Bruce has given him advice how to deal with her, his mentor has noticed that the struggles of the past is going to repeat itself once again. Tim’s growing attraction to her continues to bother him and an unwelcome distraction at the moment; with everything that has been going on in his life, he does not believe he needs someone else to be distracting him from his work.  
Wonder Girl has been in his mind as well lately, they have been spending a lot more time together after her relationship with Superboy ended. A year after not seeing each other they decided to try out being in a relationship with each other but that did not work out for either of them. The reason for that is probably because Conner’s (Superboy) was still in Cassie’s (Wonder Girl) mind and Tim had lost not only his father but his girlfriend Steph (Spoiler). Steph and Conner came back into their lives but by that time Tim and Cassie had already ended their relationship due to the fact they did not think they were truly in love with each other. The snow continues to fall onto him as he does his best to stop thinking about Lynx and Cassie. With all the problems he has to deal with regarding Batman and Anarchy, love problems is the last thing he wants to deal with.  
The sound of a nearby police siren arrives at the crime scene and he takes one last look at the green haired woman, she is cute he thinks to himself. The failure of keeping Cassie out of his mind causes him to consider to give her a call but Tim decides against it. Noticing the time, he does not think she is awake at the moment, at least it is rare for her to be up at this time. It is 2:04 a.m. on December 14th, the night is still young and he is expecting more occurrences like this mugging to happen again tonight in Gotham.

A dance remix of “Find the Way” wakes her up from the dream she was just having, she does not bother to look at the clock as she remembers what time she has set up her alarm clock. Cassie had a feeling that she would not be able to wake up at the time she wanted, she has not been able to get a good night sleep these last few days, she has been worried about Tim’s obsession with Anarchy lately since that is all he thinks about. She tries to push it away from her mind at the moment and gets out of her bed. Living by herself again has been a struggle, so when Donna Troy offered her a room at her apartment, she quickly agreed and moved in as soon as she could. Without her mother living with her, her life has been kind of a mess, she lost some stability that her mother gave her but Cassie felt like she needed someone to help her out.  
Donna had become like a sister to her, a sister she never had, they are related by blood since Cassie is Zeus’ daughter. She walks out of her room and towards the kitchen to fix herself up some breakfast and her roommate is already there finishing up her meal, “Late night, hon?” Donna asks without looking at her, “Hope those dreams that you mentioned to me aren’t bothering you again…” Cassie just nods as she grabs a bowl from the cupboard to get herself some cereal to have, “I can deal with it. It’s not killing me.” Donna finally faces her and gives her a worried look, she was about to say something else before Cassie continues, “How is the photo journalism job?” she does not want to think about her dream or talk about it, Donna takes the hint and they talk about something else as Cassie sits across from her to start her breakfast. The sun shines over them at the kitchen table. Miami really does have pretty mornings she thinks to herself.

“What are you trying to say?” Cassie asks in a defensive manner, “I don’t know why Donna would even mention that to you, I’m fine, Diana.” She feels something like this should not be spoken about over the phone, there are things that she be said in person. “I’m just worried about you, Cassie. We haven’t spoken in some time and I apologize for that but this is something that we should talk about.” Diana tells her, she can tell that Diana is doing something else while they are on the phone and it irritates her. “If you’re really that worried then you would come see me instead of calling me. This isn’t something I want to talk about over the phone right now. Bye.” She hangs up her phone abruptly and prays to Hera that her mentor does not call back.  
Feeling guilty that she might have been harsh but she feels that she is right and fights off the urge to call Diana back. It has been a different experience living somewhere that is warm; always moving around because of her mother’s work, they usually lived somewhere warm but the longest place she stayed at has been cold and she remembers that fondly. Though, it seems like she prefers the warmer weather.  
It was her day off today but she did not want to sleep in because of her dreams, she notices that it is December 14th today, Christmas is less than two weeks away and plans to spend it with family and friends. She did notice that Tim is the only that declined to show up for the Christmas party the rest of the Titans had set up. He had started to become distant after problems started to arise with Batman, deciding to leave the team once again and leave her in charge is what he thought would be in the best interest for everyone. It annoyed her that he did not take any suggestions on what to do because at the moment all he cares about is capturing Anarchy. She realized that he has always made it difficult to love him and it hit her soon after that she is in love with him. The thought shocks her at first because they have tried being in love with each other before. The feelings were there, at least they were attracted to each other but they were not truly in love with each other. The ghosts of Conner and Steph haunted them before they returned to them. The problem although, is that Conner is still around and she still has feelings for him and she knows that he still has feelings for her. A small giggle sound comes out of her mouth, her love life has always been complicated and probably always will be. Her mother always told her that love is never easy.  
Cassie lays her head on the kitchen table and takes a look at the time, 11:57 a.m. She wonders if Tim is up by now. They have been talking to each other more frequently lately, they have gotten closer to each other which is probably why she feels the way she does. They have been through so much together, they have seen the best and the worst of each other. She really cannot see anyone else next to her other than him. Worrying that he does not feel the same way because of the way he talks about his encounters with Lynx and the duel of the lips they have, she decides to call him. A sleeping man bat should be up at this time anyway she tells herself.

Tim returned to his apartment around 6:00 a.m. after only encountering a couple more muggings. Nothing big happened that night other than grateful people for having their lives saved by him. He went to sleep around 8:00 a.m. with the thought of Cassie coming to his head, it almost felt like he was at peace as he closed his eyes to finally sleep. At around 10:00 a.m. he wakes up after a two hour sleep to start the new day, being trained by the Batman has helped him to keep going with as little sleep as he needs.  
Almost an hour later after already finishing up his breakfast his phone rings, with just the sound of the ringtone -the dance remix of Find the Way- he knows that it is Cassie that is calling him. He does not hurry himself to pick up the phone as he ponders whether to ignore it or not. She usually does not call this early he thinks to himself but she is the only person he is willing to talk to and he does not want to burn the bridge down just yet. Finally picking up his phone he yawns as he says “Cassie, why are you calling this early?” She scoffs at his question, “Do I need a good reason to call a friend in need?” the sound of her voice brings a smile to his face as they talk for a while, the day just started for both of them. One of them realizes the love that is blooming while the other is struggling to forget about love. Christmas is fast approaching and they both want to see each other already.

The talks Cassie and Tim share have been something they both have gotten a hang of lately. They both have lives that are complicated and the people outside of their life style will probably never understand what they have to do to be able to have any sort of a “normal” life. Cassie puts down her phone after a while from Tim hanging up because he had some stuff he needed to do, they talked close to an hour. To her, these talks have been therapeutic, she feels without the then her life would be far more insane. She gets up from her seat and walks towards the sliding door window and looks out to see two butterflies flying with each other, it almost looks like they are dancing, quite beautiful she thinks to herself. Their wings are colored green, they continue to dance around as they reach a tree and decide to fly up over it and out of Cassie’s view.  
She has other friends that she is able to talk to like Cissie, Kara, Kiran, Raven, and she has even been talking to Tim’s ex-girlfriend, Steph, as well. But there are stuff she does not feel like she can share with them, stuff that she feels that only Tim can understand. Turning away from the window she decides to turn on the television set to watch the local news, she wonders if there is anything else she can do today other than just staying home doing nothing.  
Ever since it became known that both Donna Troy and the current Wonder Girl are living in Miami, more of Wonder Woman’s enemies have taken that news as an invitation to attack their new home. Cassie feels guilty that they have brought this kind of attention to this city and feels that it is her responsibility to stay here and protect it no matter what. She does not think that she has ever felt that way about a specific place since she usually moves around before she can settle on a location. The news announces that Shimmer is attacking a bank near Downtown Miami, she knows what she has to do and moves quickly to get changed and head out to stop Shimmer.  
Tim comes to her mind as she flies off into the sky, she wonders if he feels the excitement of doing this kind of work anymore. He does not talk about his early days but she assumes he must have loved it at first, he must have loved it even more by the time he teamed up with Conner and Bart to form Young Justice and when the others joined up. Being around people your age always helps out, being around people who are your friends are even better. She knows that he hates this life right now but she wants to make it better for him somehow, at least she believes she can do it.


	2. Silver Bells

The sun has started to rise over Gotham and Tim still has not returned home to go to sleep. It has been a long night for him, it does not get any easier to deal with. It always gets harder, especially during the holiday season but it does not stop him from working, it should not stop him, it cannot stop him. He feels the urge to keep on going as more scars appear each night, it is almost like he was born to do this. Being trained by the Batman has helped him cope with the pain but he still wishes that he has never met the Batman or ever going to the circus on his birthday that year. He might have never met any of his friends or Cassie but he thinks a sacrifice like that is something he is willing to make if it meant that he could have a normal life.  
The rising sun shines over him as the snow continues to fall on top of him. The cold does not bother him, it never did. He hates the cold, it reminds him too much of the past with his parents. The wandering eyes searches along the rooftops of Gotham, he does not know what he is looking for. Maybe it is his loved ones or the people he used to consider family not that too long ago. Regardless, his eyes will not stop as it searches, waiting for something else to happen but nothing happens. The light always scares away the evil, it was time for him to go back home and rest, he tells himself that he should sleep at least for an hour before he does anything else today. Before retreating back home, he stares at the sun. His three parents smile at him as his expression does not change at their image, he finally turns to the shadow of the neighboring building and falls from the rooftop to go back home.

Tim did not get any sleep that morning, he ended up working a case that he felt like he could not ignore or wait until after some rest. Taking a look at the time which tells him that it is 12:07 p.m. and tells himself that he should make some lunch as to not starve himself. Alfred’s voice echoes in his mind reminding himself that I cannot skip a meal, my body will fall apart if I continue to skip meals. Sometimes he misses his talks with Alfred, the butler of Bruce Wayne was the only one he thought would always be on his side but like many things he was wrong about that because after all, he is Bruce Wayne’s butler.  
He quickly makes himself a sandwich, he does not have any time to waste making a fancier meal. Without Alfred in his life, he needs to make his own meals but needs to do so to move things along quickly without wasting time. It has been another struggle to get by as he stares at the screen after sitting down, he reads quickly as he chews on his food. At the bottom of the screen it tells him that it is December 15th, Christmas keeps on getting closer. Tim still has not made the time to get Cassie anything for Christmas, he knows she is expecting something from him and it bothered him that she told him to get her something this year, he thought he was done with Christmas gifts this year. Leaning back on his seat, a smiling face from Cassie flashes in his mind, “I really love that smile. I hope she can give me that smile only to me someday…” he says out loud to himself.

Picking out a gift for someone that does not want anything for Christmas is hard for Cassie. It was easier to pick out gifts for her other friends since they know what they want, there is nothing to build on without knowing what it is Tim likes. She thinks should know what he would probably like after knowing him for years already but when trained by the Batman, your real specialty is keeping to yourself and hardly sharing what is on your mind.   
She walks past an anime specialty store and notices the Saber figure from Fate/Stray Night: Unlimited Blade Works on display and immediately remembers how much she loves that show. The fight scene against Lancer splashes her mind as she quickly walks inside the store wanting to purchase the figure and add it to her growing collection of anime figures. With a smile on her face she looks at the price of the box that is on a shelf and is ecstatic to know that the price is reasonable. Without looking at the price tag -as long as it is affordable- she would have paid whatever the asking price is. Sometimes even Cassie can be impulsive if she sees anything that catches her interest, like everyone else she is human too.  
Not wanting to pay and leave so soon, she decides to look around the store. Not getting a good look at the aisles when she first entered, now she is getting a better look at what is being offered. Imagining the first aisle is shining brightly at her, it is almost like she can see flowers blooming all around her as she walks by the plushies. Watching all the Digimon, Pokemon, and the adorable creatures from other shows she is unfamiliar with. They come to life to greet her and start to sing to her some of her favorite anime songs. There is no care if the people outside her imagination hears her humming the tunes she loves. Continuing to walk across the aisle and spots an Agumon plushie right next to a Palmon plushie, all the plushies had already stopped singing to her right before she spotted them, then a memory comes to her from her days with Young Justice.

Bart rushes towards Tim as if there is an emergency that needs to be dealt with, like it is a life or death situation, but it was not what the friends around them thought it would be. “Robbie! Did you see the last episode of Digimon!” he shouts at Tim, he use to get caught off guard by Bart but he has gotten used to it by now. “The new digivolutions of Agumon and Gabumon were so cool to look at.” he started to say to the surprise of Cassie and Cissie, they did not know he would share any interests outside of detective, he is always focused on his work than getting closer to the others on the team. “Wargreymon looked cooler though. I had a feeling Myotismon survived that fight against all of them, his digivolution looked cool as well,” he tells Bart as he looks from him to looking up the roof as if he was deep in thought. Bart gives him a look in disbelief at just what he has heard, he then goes on a rant about how much nicer looking Metalgarurumon looks compared to Wargreymon, it starts a heated debate between the two, Cassie and Cissie are continued to be surprised by Tim. She giggles at him, “He looks kind of cute there, talking about Digimon. He must really love Agumon to be in this argument with Bart,” Cissie turns to her not really knowing what they are talking about as she is not that into anime like the rest of them. Cissie feels a little left out and now wants to know what they are all into.

The memory causes her to smile as she continues to stare at the plushies of Agumon and Palmon. Tai’s Digimon and Mimi’s Digimon, the partners of two characters she has recently likes to pair up together, Cassie has become a fan of those two characters even though they hardly have any moments together and none of their shared screen time is not romantic at all but all the cute fan art has convinced her that she loves that pairing. Almost forgetting about that time worries her because it is one of the few times, from the beginning of their friendship, where Tim acted like a normal person. Without much thought she grabs the plushies, one for Tim and the other for herself.  
The satisfied feeling of accomplishing something meaningful to her is a great way to end her Christmas shopping. She decides she should pay and leave but then leaving here without checking out the whole store would be a shame she thinks to herself. She looks around and she feels like she is swimming in an ocean filled with fish staying still, adding something else to the stuff she is already planning to pay probably is not a good idea she wonders but then she spots something else during her swim around the store.

“Dude!” everyone in the house can hear Bart scream out, “You were right! Gundam is one of the greatest things ever! I mean, it’s no Evangelion but it’s still awesome!” Tim had just arrived to the kitchen when Bart had raced across the house searching for him and finally stopped when he finds his target. “I knew you’d love that show but you should watch the others now,” Tim starts to say while opening the refrigerator door to make himself a sandwich to eat, “G Gundam is fun and all but it’s the other shows is what makes Gundam a brilliant franchise, Bart. Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam are deeper shows but I think you’d appreciate because it has really cool retro fight scenes between the mobile suits. I personally love Gundam F91 but you need to watch the first three shows and Char’s Counterattack before you even watch that…” he stops himself as he ponders on what he needs to say next. Cassie is again surprised about his knowledge of a franchise that she herself had just recently gotten into. “…well, you may not need to watch any of those shows since F91 is a movie and takes place a couple of decades after Char’s Counterattack…” before he can finish his train of thought, “Robbie, I just want to see mindless action not stuff that makes me want to cry or whatever…” Bart informs his friend.  
Cassie is looking at them as she continues to walk towards them as Cissie spots the three of them, “Are you guys talking about another anime show that I need to watch?” she questions them as she wants to join in on the conversation as well. After the talk of Digimon, she had decided to watch the show and was quickly hooked onto it to which surprised all of them because they did not think she would be into that kind of show or anime in general. “Because I just caught up with you guys on Digimon and having to do that with another show doesn’t seem like something I want to do at the moment…” Tim then goes off on a passionate rant about how great Gundam is and how everyone should be watching it, or at least watch it once. Cissie sighs at his rant and does not seem like she wants to get into another anime but Cassie has this odd feeling that she will watch it anyway as Tim continues his passionate speech about Gundam. She laughs as Tim looks at her but tells him to continue, she teases him by telling him that he almost has her convinced that Gundam is the greatest thing ever. He feels like he is being patronized but shrugs it off by talking about why he thinks that a story about the romance that is not shown in the shows and movies, about Amuro Ray’s romance with Sayla Mass should be told and the sequel to F91 needs to be made already. Cassie giggles again as she rests her elbow on the near table and places her head on top of her palm as she listens intently to Tim talk.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 is on the shelf of the store, Cassie has not watched it in a long time and remembers the time when Tim convinced her to watch it years ago. She grabs a copy and is determined to buy it along with the other items she is holding, after having not thought about it after so long she decides that she wants to watch it again and wants to invite Tim to watch it with her. It would give her a good excuse to invite him over, she believes Tim would remember about it and would want to watch it again. Doubting that he has kept up with the recent Gundam shows, it would be funny to her to see herself explaining the show to him but she also doubts he would like the more recent shows. From what she can tell, it does not seem like a lot of the fans do not like what the newer shows.   
Cassie pays for items and the memories of those Young Justice days flood her mind, she remembers how no one on the team would think like they are thinking now. Being a teenaged super hero is not normal, being an adult super hero is not normal but it is the life they have chosen. It was almost like any of them had a care in the world when they were not in a situation having to save the day from super villains. Her heart warms up as she sets foot outside in the cold air, she feels the cold breeze over her body as she looks up into the sky. Strolling down the street, she ponders what Tim is doing at the moment. She hopes she is in his mind. Reminding herself that it is December 15th, Christmas is less than two weeks away.


	3. Last Christmas

The dog barks at Cassie wanting her full attention, the dog is a female Siberian huskie. She seems to want so much attention, her owner must spoil her too much Cassie thought to herself. She has always loves to play with dogs but she has never owned one because her mother has never wanted to own one and thinking it would have been too much responsibility for Cassie. She never demanded a pet but she had made it known a couple of times that she wants a dog. Knowing what her mother had feared, she understands the responsibility of having to help raise another living creature that is pretty much going to stay acting like a baby for the rest of pet’s life, it was not something Cassie felt like she was ready to do on her own. It felt like it was too much responsibility and has decided against ever getting a dog once she started living on her own. It will never hinder her love for dogs though and she will play with one whenever she gets the chance. The huskie was shaved, she prefers huskies with more hair but here in Miami, the huskie would probably die of heat. The feeling of jealousy starts to form in her as Cassie continues to play with the huskie.  
The people around Cassie starts to feel chilly and she notices them starting to feel uncomfortable outside. It does not get too cold in Miami, it always seems to be hot down there but during the winter time it can get a little chilly. Being the only one without a sweater or anything to cover herself, makes her feel a little out of place but it does not bother her too much, she also finds it a little strange to see people struggle with this kind of weather.   
“You really aren’t from around here, huh?” the question comes from someone whom Cassie has met not too long ago. She turns to Eduadro, shaking her head, “Can’t say that I am,” is her reply. “It’s suppose to get even colder during the week which doesn’t happen a lot down here,” he starts to tell her, “Oh, that’s cool.” She was going to mention that she has been in colder weather but stopped herself, it kind of felt like she was going to be competing with him. During their last meet up, he had mentioned how much he loves the cold since he has never lived anywhere that had cold weather. Being the someone that other people envied has been something that has been bothering her recently but she never showed it, she had told him that he was not missing much and he would hate the snow. The huskie barks at her again when Cassie is being distracted from their play time, she starts to pay attention to the huskie again and she is overjoyed by Cassie giving her all the attention in the world.

The weather had become colder as Gotham City gets closer to Christmas Day. To the people who have not lived in the city will not understand why some people who loves Gotham with bleak vibe it can give to anyone that is visiting. Day or night, it can look like a dump, it is as if you keep your house in disarray all the time to the point where it looks like no one is going to want to visit. It is something no one would be proud of, no one will want to be prideful about Gotham but there are people who loves Gotham for what it is even in the terrible snowy cold weather. Tim is one of those people, even though he was born during the summer -during the hot weather- he feels like the cold weather is what represents him better than the heat. It was easier to play in the snow than it was playing in the rain, in fact he would get yelled at if he ever tried to play in the rain. He had always found it fun to play in the snow, it felt too gloomy whenever it rained, it felt too depressing whenever the rain fell over Gotham.

Walking the streets of Gotham in the snow is one of the things he loves to do whenever it is winter time in Gotham. Tim thinks back to his childhood with his parents, he reminds himself of walking through this same exact street with his mother doing some Christmas shopping, it was the only time they had done that which is why it is a precious moment for him. He usually walked throughout the city by himself since his parents were always traveling because of work but that year was one of the rare moments when his parents were home for a long period of time. His father was busy meeting with business partners but his mother had nothing else to do and wanted to spend some time outside of their home with her son.  
It had made Tim happy to spend some time with his mother during that time, they hardly see each other before the holidays and he had resented his parents for that but he would always forgive them instantly whenever they returned home and give him their attention. It would be a short time but that did not matter to him, he would take whatever time he could use. Tim looks up to the sky and the snow continues to fall on top of him just like it has been doing every day since it started snowing. It looks exactly how it did like all those years ago, he stops walking and looks around for somewhere to sit. He finds a nearby spot and sits down to take in the scenery. He breaths in and out as he loses himself to his past again.  
His mother grabs a hold of him as they are walking out of the store, they had picked out a gift for his father. Tim walked right next to his mother as they did their best to walk through the crowded area, she had forgotten that they are late in their Christmas shopping, everyone is doing their last minute shopping. He has a smile on his face as his mother drags him around, he was not bothered by how hard her grip was at the time, he was just happy for that time they spent together just before Christmas. Soon after, they met up with his father and they had dinner together. Their maid had made chicken with rice with some vegetables on the side, as plain as that is it was Tim’s favorite, it is usually what they have together. It is one of the few good memories of them together before his mother’s death.  
Breathing in the cold air, he coughs as his throat starts to dry up, he thinks to himself that he needs something to drink. Spotting a nearby Starbucks, a coffee is something he suddenly wants in this cold weather, he could see his own breath in the air. Taking a look at his phone he is reminded of the day, December 16th. And he reminds himself that he still has not bought a gift for Cassie, he really needs to get her something soon. He thinks to himself that he should not have waited this long to look for something but what is done is done. Hoping that there is something good to buy her but his hope for that is too low, it just will not stop him. Almost sure that she has gotten him something, it would be wrong of him to receive something and not give anything back. Entering the Starbucks he keeps thinking what would be a good gift for Cassie Sandsmark.


	4. Christmas All Over Again

It is only 12:15 p.m. and all he can do at the moment is yawn, it is all he has been doing since his hour long nap. With Tim being trained to sleep as little as possible to work, today has been an off day for him. “December 17th…” he reminds himself, “I need to get that damn gift” but tells himself that his work is more important. The feeling of wanting to drop everything and just do whatever it is he wants to do comes to him again, that feeling has been getting stronger every day since the month started, before he was to fight off the feeling by distracting himself with his work, at least he has been able to work with it but the envious feeling of seeing everyone else around him worry about something unimportant as buying a gift for someone for Christmas has been toxic to his work personality.   
Sitting in front of the computer and just staring at it while doing nothing is not productive. He gets up from the chair and walks towards some of the workout equipment he has around, he starts to work out to get his mind set back to normal but what he really needs is a distraction, at least that is what he thinks.   
After about an hour work out session and not feeling satisfied, he decides to go out for lunch. Yesterday he was unable to find anything for Cassie, it is still bothering him that he has not been satisfied with whatever he has found that he thinks might please her but he always questions the item and ends up not buying anything.   
Tim feels like his work can wait for now, what he wants to do is get that gift now. He starts to feel depressed that this has been bothering him since she asked him for a gift, she should not feel the need to ask he thought. Getting a friend a gift for Christmas should be something he wants to do without needing to be asked. It almost felt embarrassing to him for that to happen and he questioned why she would even ask for something from him, it almost felt like she has a deeper reasoning to ask but he shakes off the thought. Getting the gift is what he wants to focus on at the moment and getting a smile from her. He imagines her being in love with him and gets a kiss form her pretty face, getting a tightly squeezed hug from hug, to feel her warmth, to feel her love. It is something he wants for Christmas, it is all he wants from her. Snapping back to reality as he opens the front door to his apartment, he thinks of Conner and his relationship with Cassie, their love for each other, and he believes that they still have the same feeling right now. Tim’s gloomy attitude returns, he starts to brood as he pauses. He looks out the doorway and starts to move outside as the image of Conner with Cassie fades from his mind, it does not matter to him at the moment what they feel for each other, it does not matter what he feels for Cassie since he is only getting a gift for a friend and no one that is more than a friend to him. Closing the door behind him, he has a smile on his face as if he no longer has any worry, it is almost like nothing can bring him down. The smile that came to his face felt genuine to him, he starts to walk from his apartment door to the elevator determined to come back with something for her.

Becoming a model is not something Cassie thought she would ever become. She never thought she looked beautiful enough to become a model but Donna was able to convince her to model for her. Donna had decided to go back to photography and needed to find someone who would model for her, that is when Cassie came to visit her and had asked if she could stay with her. The older woman was not going to ask the younger woman to model until Cassie had mentioned that she was going to look for a job to help out with the rent money, she did not want to free load on someone whom she considered an older sister but looking for a job would be hard since, like her mentor, she does not hide her identity from anyone. Because of that decision, the whole world knows not only Cassie but the people that are closest to her which makes everyone around her a target for a villain attack.   
It was not easy for Donna to convince Cassie to become a model since the Cassie does not have that much confidence in her body but after some talk between the two, Cassie finally agreed. One of the things Donna had mentioned to her was that she had three of her best friends to fall for her, at first she did not know what she meant but then she realized her “sister” was talking about Conner, Bart, and Tim. She blushed at the thought of the three of them having a crush on her and Donna teased her about it which leads to them to talk about their love lives. They talked about Roy and Conner first, about how much they still mean to them, they are their first love but loving them was not enough for their relationships to survive. They found it cute that Wally and Bart had crushes on them but the feelings were never mutual since they both see them as friends more than lovers. Donna talks about Dick and how much her relationship with him is important to her, she loves Dick but as someone who is a brother to her. She goes on to talk about Kyle Rayner and the other people that she came close to dating.   
Donna pauses before she continues, she begins to talk about Terry Long, their son, and their failed marriage. Cassie knew how much Donna loved Terry and her son, she could almost feel it as her “sister” continues to talk about them. Tears starts to fall, she can imagine Donna crying from time to time at the thought of her dead son, her mind flashes an image of her future self and she wonders if she had a child with Conner in that future or had they failed? They must have tried to start a family but she was now curious if they succeeded. Would that matter? Would that have changed Conner’s and her mind set? Would they still be together knowing that they had started a family in their future? It did not matter she thought to herself since then they would have stayed together for someone else and not for them.  
Cassie then starts to talk about Tim to her. About their slow start to becoming friends and how frustrating it is to stay friends with him. He always makes it hard to even like him, he was becoming too much like his mentor she says to Donna. He has these random mood swings of keeping to himself to being open with her then to keeping to himself again. She mentions that she had not talked to him for about a year after Conner had died and reminds Donna that they dated for a short time just before he leaves the team for the first time to focus his time on Gotham after Batman’s disappearance. It was around that time when she had realized that she was starting to fall in love with Tim.  
Yes, she had been attracted to him but she did not love him when they dated. Things changed after that relationship and that was probably the reason why her relationship with Conner had failed in the end after his return from the dead. It may look like Tim’s fault but she does not really blame him for that, she tells Donna that her relationship with Conner probably would have ended anyway soon afterwards. She will always have feelings for Conner but it is no longer that same kind of love, it was more love for a friend now. He will always have a piece of her heart but the rest of it she assumes belongs to Tim. Donna is a little surprised at the revelation of this since she suspected that Cassie had feelings for Tim for some time already and was oblivious to it but she was wrong about that it seems. Cassie continued to talk about her friendship with Tim a bit more before she says that she loves Tim again. It brings a smile on her face to talk about him. She then realizes what is she going to do now that she knows of her real feelings for him, she does not even know if he feels the same. Those Bat people love to keep their real feelings secret and since he is becoming more like Batman, she doubts that he would be willing to even tell her if he loves her or not. She thinks he must feel something for him to continue to talk to her and not their other friends. Donna notices her depressed expression realizing that her younger “sister” is going to have a hard time to deal with Tim and lets her know that everything is going to be all right. “It’s December 17th, I’m sure your feelings will get through to him in time for Christmas.”


	5. Come All Ye Faithful

It was 8:17 a.m. on the 18th of December, Tim had been back to his base for some time already. He had just finished having breakfast while he was working on another case. Cases were starting to pile up a bit now with some of them starting to connect with each other, it felt to him that he was making some progress but he also felt that he needed some time to shut his eyes. The urge to fight his tiredness was great but again, he can hear Alfred’s voice telling him that sleep is necessary for everyone even for the lunatics that dress up at night to fight crime. He leans back and sighs as he grabs his cup of water to chug it down.  
Yesterday, he felt like he accomplished something meaningful, well, almost meaningful. He succeeded in finding something he felt Cassie will, at least, like if not love. What he purchased for her were silver bells, just like the Christmas song, he thinks she will enjoy using them as decorations for the holidays from now on.  
Tim finally decides to take a nap after picturing Cassie’s smiling face again. Her smile seems to help calm him down these days and wonders if she would ever give him a smile just for him. He walks over to his bed and sits down and still thinking about Cassie, he wonders if she ever thinks about their past relationship like he does from time to time. Does she regret it like she had mentioned to Conner once or does she feel differently now, he wishes he put more effort into their relationship. Maybe it would have survived until Conner and Bart came back to them but it probably would have ended immediately when Cassie faced Conner, he reminds himself that she will always love him more. Laying back his bed, Tim starts to slowly doze off to sleep as he allows Cassie to haunt him some more.

The sky looked clear with some white clouds here and there, the sun shined brightly over him, he thought it felt really nice in the warm weather. Tim was laying on his back on the ground gazing up towards the sky while he whistles one of his favorite songs by Pearl Jam. He hears the grass rustling, someone is walking towards him but he is not alarmed because he is expecting to meet with some people in the park. Dana calls out to him, “Your parents are on their way, Tim!” he was not surprise to see her first, “Jack and Janet are still grabbing some stuff. Why don’t you come help me out set up the stuff here!” She had brought some ingredients for the food they had agreed to make for the party.  
Tim was more than happy to help set up the barbeque with her, he wondered when the others would start to show up. Even though he enjoyed the solitude, he also loves to be around his close friends and family. Bart arrives next just before Conner gets there, it seems they made it a race to see who gets there first. Whoever won the race has to pay the bill for their next eating contest and Conner is going to have to pay for it, he turns to me and I already know he is going to ask me to help out with the bill which is something he is not looking forward to. Cissie, Greata, Kara, Steph, Rose, Megan, Raven, Cass, and Kirran arrive together soon afterwards, they had noticed my parents still grabbing stuff from their car and decided to help them out. It was starting to get crowded and his girlfriend still has yet to arrive.  
“Dude, I’m sure she is on her way, you don’t need to worry about her being late. Something last minute must’ve happened and she’s probably just dealing with it.” Conner says to him after noticing his worried look. Tim feels that it is nice to be read like a book, being read like a book can be a good thing, he may not like to share stuff but when he does not want to then his friends will notice and talk to him about his problems regardless. “I’m sure you’re right, Conner” he tells him with a grin on his face. And with that statement he feels a strong breeze as someone lands right in front of him. Cassie looks straight at him with her beautiful smile, he does not believe he has ever seen anyone give a better smile than her. She grabs his shirt collar and pulls him for a very passionate kiss, just short from a French kiss. He hopes for her to use her tongue later today when they are alone. She pulls away and apologizes for being late but Tim shakes his head and tells her not to think any more about it since she is here now. He would always wait for her no matter what.  
Cassie greets all their friends before turning to his parents and hugs all three of them. It pleases him to see her loves his parents as much as he does. And his parents love her like their own daughter already, they have asked him when he is going to marry her to his embarrassment, doing that in front of Cassie was something he wish his dad would not have done. Cassie had blushed at the question as did Tim and his dad has been waiting for the answer since. At that time, Tim had already bought a ring but has not asked the question, he was waiting for the “right” time to ask. He was afraid of rejection and if she rejected him then that is like the world is going to end, he could not see himself spending the rest of his life with anyone else.   
Tim continues to look at the people he loves the most, he cannot imagine himself with different people other than these people. He looks up to the sky again, he always looks up into the sky, he loves to look for Cassie as she loves to fly everywhere she goes. Sometimes he wishes he can fly but then Cassie will stop having to carry him up to the sky and he wishes she will always have to carry him up there until the day they die.  
The sky quickly turns gloomy as the clouds flood the sky. It starts to snow all over them and Tim is all alone as the snow quickly gets stronger and it becomes a storm. He looks around and notices everyone has disappeared, he is all alone right now. Walking forward, he does not have any fear even though he is alone.  
The snow keeps getting stronger but it does not stop him from walking, he feels there is somewhere he needs to go to and stopping now will be detrimental to what needs to be done. There is something at the destination that only he knows about and he feels like only he needs to know about it. Needing other people will just be a distraction to him, he would refuse any help that is offered, he can be stubborn like the giant bat that has been flying over him, watching him brave the snow storm. Then a bright light shines through all the clouds and the sunbeam hits him in the face. He can feel the warm power it is pouring out.  
As he puts his hands in front of him to block the light from blinding him more, he feels someone landing in front of him for a second time, she is blocking the light from shining on him. Tim notices Cassie standing right in front of him again. He tells her to leave him alone because he does not need her to be here with him. She does not move. She does not say anything to him. She continues to stand there as he stares at her. He does not understand why she will not move but he refuses to allow her to get in his way right now. The sound of the giant bat gets louder, he can his screeching scream. Tim continues his walk, as he is about walk pass Cassie, she grabs a hold of him and hugs him tightly. He is caught off guard as he did not anticipate her to do that, wishing it did not happen as Conner comes to mind and he thinks she should be with his best friend. Trying his best to get out of her grip and push her away, he fails like he always does. Losing to love is hard. Maybe he hates to lose but it is something that needs to happen to him.  
The giant bat lands near them, he screeches at them loudly. Tim stares at him as Cassie refuses to let go of him. He notices what kind of looks like a smile on the bat’s face as it flies away into the darkness once again. “Tim,” she says, he turns to her and brings his face closer to her. Their lips touch briefly as he pulls away again, she quickly forces her face onto his as they kiss passionately again.

Find the Way wakes him up again, he is laying on his bed still. He must have slept for an hour at least. Another dream about Cassie, his face feels warm again. “Man…” he starts to say as he realizes what has happened, “… I really do love her.”


	6. I'll Be Home For Christmas

“Yeah, mom, I’ll be there for Christmas.” Cassie tells her mother. Cassie had just mentioned to her mother that she was going to be meeting up with her friends on Christmas day for a party. Her mother got worried that she had forgotten about their plans to spend that day together. Since they do not see each other as much as they use to, Christmas Day would be the day where they had agreed to spend together, Helena has been looking forward to it because she wants to see her daughter again and catch up on what has been going on with her daughter’s life.  
Cassie sighs and feels guilty for springing this news on her, her intention was not to make her mother think that she was going to blow her off on a special day. She moves her phone to the other ear to adjust her comfort position, “Listen, why don’t I come on Christmas Eve?” she suggests, thinking that this might be a better compromise. “I’ll still stay with you for the first half on Christmas Day but I have to leave immediately after lunch.” She stops talking waiting for a response from Helena, she starts to feel guilty again, “Look, I know we’ve been planning this for some time and I also want to see you, Mom. I just want to see my friends as well, I haven’t seen them in some time.”  
Tim had left her in charge of the Titans but recently she decided to take some time away from the team so that she can get her life in order. She has been feeling like her life is at a crossroads and she needs to rest after everything that has happened to the team.   
“I understand, honey,” Helena starts to say with that motherly comfort Cassie misses so much, “I guess I just wanted you for myself, I forget sometimes that your friends are another extension of your family. They’re another part of your family,” she had always understood that this is the life her daughter always wanted to be a part of and her daughter had succeeded, so far, in surviving up to that point. She was against it at first because who in their right mind would allow their child to go out and fight crime as a teenager. Even if it was Wonder Woman who had given her word that she would watch over Cassie, it was too hard for her to accept Cassie fighting crime.  
Cassie apologizes for the change of plans and promises to be there on Christmas Eve to which Helena replies that she has nothing to apologize for. It was a nice feeling to have a mother that understands her thought Cassie. Helena had the urge to mention Tim but then she decided against it, her daughter had mentioned him in an earlier phone call, complaining about him. She assumed there is something more and was curious what Cassie thought but then she thought she would wait until she gets home.  
Helena had told Cassie once that even though they move around so much and they do not have a permanent house, it does not matter because they have a home regardless. Home is where you want it to be, it will always be with the people she loves the most. Before they hang up their phones she tells her to come home soon, so that she can hug her after so long. Cassie smiles and tells her that she will be home soon.

Feeling satisfied with the pepperoni pizza she had made, she heads to the couch and turns on the television. She had wanted to watch some Gundam during her talk with her mother, she feels lucky to have bought the blu rays of all the releases in the U.S. since not all the streaming services have all the shows. It was annoying that she could not watch Gundam on a streaming service but at least with a blu ray she will not have to worry about losing internet connection and will not feel like she is being interrupted in her viewing. She had the urge to watch Endless Waltz because of the time of the year, watching War in the Pocket seems a bit too much at the moment since she does not want to feel depressed afterwards.  
The Wing Zero Custom comes to the screen after the other four shows up first, she had always loved that angelic version of that particular gundam. It was quite beautiful to look at she thought to herself, she also had a crush on Heero Yuy which made it easier to fall In love with his mobile suit. The thought of waiting for the Two Mix song when the Wing Zero Custom is reintroduced is too much for her, it is one of her favorite songs since her first viewing of Endless Waltz on Toonami all those years ago. Watching all the mobile suits blow up in a blaze to light up the blackness of space looks beautiful to her. If only robots can move like these on her television screen she thought.


	7. Is This Christmas?

“C’mon, man. Give me a break here, I barely make ends meet with the job I have at the moment,” one man pleads with another. Tim had been stalking the rooftops for some time already, leaving a couple of people hanging around for Gotham’s Finest to pick up. He had just arrived at this particular rooftop to continue to keep an eye out on any suspicious people. The man must be desperate to get something for some close to him, for 11 months he forgets that people can get unreasonable during this time of year. Trying to get gifts for their loved ones, trying to get something that is wanted by everyone. He focused on just one person this year since he really talks to one person closely, he talks to two people the most but one of them is a work colleague that still does not know who Red Robin is or maybe Lonnie does know and he just has not said anything yet, he is a smart guy Tim thought. Purchasing a gift for Lonnie just does not seem something Red Robin would ever do since they are just work colleagues and nothing more than that.  
Tim turns his attention back to the two men that were negotiating, they were still talking but he started to not pay attention to what they were saying. Losing interest in what they were saying to each other, like everything about this season he began to think about his parents. Not that he has been trying but even he did try, Christmas will always remind him of his parents. That recurring memory of losing them all will haunt him for the rest of his life. Like Bruce before him, he refuses to let go of that pain.  
The snow, tonight, is starting to get a tad stronger, it looks like it is going to be another White Christmas this year. There is a breeze, a very cold breeze that would chill his whole face if he did not have his cowl over him. Tim sits back and watches his breath leave his body, for people not living in the cold weather probably do not see or feel the cold like this but it is very common in Gotham. So, for someone like him it should not be a bother for him or something that should amaze him but he allows himself to enjoy the moment. The breath starts to form itself into people that were alive in his past, he torments himself again.

They were fighting again, it had become a routine for them to enter into a shouting match. Their last work trip might have been the reason for their current fight, his father Jack had thought it would be nice to spend vacation together outside of Gotham. They all agreed to the trip and he felt somewhat excited to do something else that is not work.   
Their fight kept going as their food continued to get cold. Tim feels depressed about their fight and did not want to be around them as they fought. Christmas is right around the corner, it was the reason why they were in Japan in the first place. He was so glad to have them for himself after months of not seeing them and they seemed happy to be with him but something happened to them again. Usually, he tries to ask them why they are angry but this time he just heads back to their hotel room and try his best to concentrate on reading his book. Putting on headphones to listen to some music, it seems to help him calm down even if he cannot understand what they are singing about.   
The next day, Jack had felt guilty and decided to take his wife Janet along with Tim to walk around Tokyo together. It was there when Tim first heard about Gundam, the year before Gundam Wing was introduced to the United States. They were walking across Akihabara when Tim had spotted a store that was selling gunpla and witnessed a screen showing some slips from Zeta Gundam. He could not understand what the characters were shouting but he was mesmerized by the mobile suits fighting each other, he could not stop looking at the screen as more fight scenes continued to be shown. Noticing his son was enamored by the anime, Jack purchased a gunpla for his son, the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam model kit, it was the main mobile suit from the second show Zeta Gundam and Tim was extremely excited to build it once he returned home with his parents. They had told him that he was going to have to wait another couple of days to open his gunpla but he had already decided to wait until they returned to Gotham.  
As they continued their walk and Tim still staring at the gunpla package with Janet telling him to look ahead or he will bump into something and get himself hurt or in trouble. He just kept telling her “yeah” but kept staring at the Zeta Gundam regardless. They walk by another store that is playing music and he hears “Trip Dance” by the Pillows from their recent album Please Mr. Lostman. It had hit him hard, he was not a fan of rock music but listening to the guitar opening just opened up something in him. He was entranced by the song but again he could not understand what they were singing, it was all in Japanese. He rushes to the store and calls out to his parents begging them to get him the CD. Janet tells him that he already has Christmas gifts at their hotel room and should be happy with that but Tim kept pleading anyway, he really loved what he was hearing. Jack gives his wife a look and nudges her to get buy it for him since he already got him the gunplay, he thought it was not bad to indulge their only son with stuff he likes. They do not see him a lot and spoiling him should be the least they can do for him Jack thought. Janet sighs and relents, she does love to see her son smile when they are together.

Tim is still staring at his breath, he can hear that guitar intro to “Trip Dancer” in the back of his head. He still has that CD his mother bought him all those years ago, it is still one of his favorite CDs he owns. Standing up from where he was sitting, there two men down below look like they have finally reached an agreement, the man was buying a toy that has been sold out for some time already. Whomever his child is, they are lucky to have a parent who loves them enough to be doing this in a dangerous area of Gotham. Deciding that he should keep an eye on the man to make sure he returns home safely, to return to his child. Tim starts to wonder if he asked for too much from his parents, all he really wanted was to spend time with them some more. It is all a child ever really wants truly, especially on Christmas Day. Is this really Christmas, if the only thing the child wants is presents? He does not think so, Christmas is when the family are all together. He grabs his grappling hook and follows the man back to his home.


	8. Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

Today has been livelier for Cassie, Cross Christina escaped from prison and for no other reason other than wanting to attack Cassie for the fun of it. South Beach is usually lively but it does not get any superpowered fights. At least, it is not as common compared to the other major cities across the country.   
Cassie enjoys heading to the beach and today she had decided to get a tan instead of staying in to watch anime all day again. As much as she loves to watch anime, it is not something she would want to be doing all of the time. Her mother’s voice echoes in the back of her head telling her that there is more to life than anime. It would always annoy her whenever her mother would say that, she had always loved watching her shows those weekday and weekend mornings. Maybe a little too much for her mother’s comfort which is why she would always tell Cassie the same thing over and over, like a broken record. But it seems it would not have mattered whether if she chose to stay in and catch up on the current anime season or if she went to the beach. 

Getting punched in the face by someone with super strength is never fun. Cassie flies across the from one side of the beach to the other, she has been hit by trains and wrecking balls before but these superpowered punches always feels the worst. She sometimes wishes she can choose the villains she fights, her imagination goes off as she pictures a world where every hero can choose their opponents, it would almost be perfect if that were to ever happen she thought to herself. Cross Christina moves right in front of Cassie as she had distracted herself with her imagination, she gets punched in the face again before she can even respond. This punch was stronger than the last and now she is flying again farther from where they were.  
Cassie hits the concrete and the sidewalk looks destroyed as she gets up shaking her head. She landed right next to the large decorated Christmas tree, she already knows that she is no longer at the beach, annoyance is what she is starting to feel. The first time Christina and Cassie encountered each other was just before Conner’s death and after Tim’s father had died. She remembers Tim talking about what happened during his encounter with Kestrel, even though she can remember what he talked about it was still hard to imagine what he was going through after the death of someone close to him. Hearing loud pounds coming towards her, she knows Christina is on her way, she quickly sets her mind on the fight she should have already been concentrating on. 

Some rooftops are destroyed and there are cracks on the street surrounding them. Cassie is panting, her annoyance just keeps rising as Christina lunges at her once again. Grabbing her to throw her to the side, she can hear Christina yell out in frustration. They have been talking while they fight, Cassie has been trying to figure out why Christina is there to fight her. She had recently found out that Cassie had moved to Miami and was compelled to head there for another fight. Now, the guilt starts to weigh on her, Cassie was starting to blame herself on all the damage they have been causing on this day. They must be ruining the day for the people around them, Christmas is so close and all these decorations are on the floor. Christina punches her again in the face, she is starting to get tired Cassie noticed. The next punch is from the hero and she does not stop until Christina finally is knocked out.  
Relieved that their fight is finally over but she is troubled that someone like Christina came to Miami just to fight. She feels like she cannot go anywhere to call home without her enemies from finding out. The regret of following in her mentor’s footsteps, in revealing who she is starts to become too much to handle. She was naïve and younger, sometimes she can understand why Tim can be so secretive all the time during this job, he is very picky on who he allows to know some of his secrets. She knows he does not share everything with her even though she has tried her best to make him more open but she also understands why Wonder Woman should be more open than people like the Batman. Why she has to be more open than Tim.   
Taking hold of the fallen Christmas tree, she flies up holding it and straightens it out. She continues to work around the area by starting to pick up all the decorations, she does her best to help clean up everything. Believing that it will bring smiles to the children, it was the least she could do she thought to herself. The Miami Dade Police Department arrive at the scene to help out, they tell her that S.T.A.R. Labs are on their way to pick up Christina and they thank her for the hard work she had to do, they went on to tell her that they think without her then things would have turned out differently. She thinks without her here, then they would not be in this situation but maybe Christina would probably have found some different reason to attack Miami. At least, she tells herself that to make herself feel better. Right now, she needs to make sure that these people are safe and their Christmas just goes on as planned.


	9. Little Drummer Boy

It was cloudy again today, the people walking in the streets do not care since it is normal for that to happen. During the winter season the sun rarely gets seen, some people can get depressed by this which is usually adults. The children just go on with the day without ever truly caring what the weather is. They will always find a reason, a way to play in whatever weather. Tim still does not care what the weather is outside, he has to work regardless of the weather because crime will not take a day off.  
Walking by a playground near Wayne Enterprises, he notices all the happy faces on the faces of the children. Not knowing, maybe not even caring, what their parents are going through. He tells himself that he was the same way, all they truly care about during that age is whether how much fun they will be having and playing in the snow as much as they can.  
The memory of the past floods him with images of him playing with his friends in the snow. Mark, Marv, Pat, Lisa, Linda, Patty, Scooter, and Ashley; he can remember all their faces, all those times they would just run outside and play in the rain or snow. They were his friends from elementary and he lost contact with them since they all went to different middle schools and now the curiosity of finding out what they have been doing comes to him. He never kept in touch with any of them since those days, they had the best of time he thought to himself.  
A smile forms on his face, this last week has been making him think too much about the past, a past he does not really want to think too much about but there are some memoires that still brings him some joy. Ashley returns to him, he always thought she was the cutest in their group but Tim never told her how he felt. She might have known, he remembers Mark teasing him about always looking at Ashley and he thinks he spotted her around the corner when Mark was teasing him but that topic never came up whenever they spoke afterwards. She must have known he tells himself, she was just probably embarrassed and had no idea how to react to a boy liking her.  
Tim spots a bench and decides to take a small rest to sit down. Hoping no one around thinks he is a pedophile, he takes out his phone and starts to look through it to make himself look busy. Getting of Google Chrome, he searches for news on the upcoming winter anime season, he has not been keeping up with any shows lately but he thinks it will not hurt just to jump in now. There must be a show coming out that has a song worth listening to over and over he thinks to himself.   
Although he has not been watching the new Digimon show, he does enjoy listening to the current ending song, he tells himself that he needs to catch up since he only watched up to the third episode. Remaking one of his favorite shows was a weird choice he thought, the movie that came out ahead of it was supposed to be the final story of Digimon Adventure or at least that is what he thought it was. Saying goodbye to a fictional character like Tai and Agumon was hard to him. Yes, they are fictional but they meant so much to him, watching them grow up was nice to see and his love for them just grew after each new story that came out. Sighing, he decides to go on SoundCloud and play “Butter-Fly” by Wada Koji, it is his favorite anime song opening. It always pumps him up and helps lift up his spirits, it is probably his favorite song. As much as he loves the songs from Gundam, nothing compares to “Butter-Fly” he thinks to himself.  
His mind shows him Bart and he pictures him shouting about how much he loves Digimon, he starts to sing the “Digi-Rap” from the United States release. One of the few times he indulges Bart and sings along with him, Conner hears them and joins them in their singing. They laugh afterwards as Cassie and Cissie come in mocking them for their terrible singing, Greta mumbles the rest of the song and joins in all the fun they are having. Slobo and Ray do not join in since they do not watch the show while Anita hums to their singing. Tim laughs at the memory, he still thinks “Butter-Fly” is the better song. The song finishes playing and the next song is “Mikakunin Hikousen” by Takayoshi Tanimoto, the current opening song to the current Digimon Adventure. The song is not bad he thinks, it just does not compare to “Butter-Fly”, he tells himself again that nothing will be better than “Butter-Fly.”  
A child nearby laying on the snow hears the song somehow and immediately recognizes it. He seems to ecstatic to hear it and looks around to see where it is coming from, he spots Tim and runs towards him. The boy trips and falls on the snow, his friends notice and call out to him, he waves them off as he picks himself up. He starts to run again without caring to be careful after a fall, he stops right in front of Tim. “You’re playing the song from Digimon!” he shouts to Tim, “That show is awesome! My favorite is Gabumon and Yamato!” he continues to shout towards Tim. Caught off guard by the boy standing right in front of him he does not know to say at first but quickly composes himself, “Yeah? Well, Agumon is my favorite and Taichi is pretty cool.” The boy gives him a face as if to tell him that his opinion is wrong, they continue to talk about the show and their love for the characters.

They were forced to finish their conversation after the boy’s mother came looking for him, she seemed a little distressed to see him talking to a complete stranger. It did not surprise Tim to see her reaction, a parent should always know to whom their child is talking to, it was a normal reaction thought Tim. The boy waves farewell to him as he walks away holding hands with his mother, she had apologized just before and Tim told her that she did not need to worry about it since they had fun talking about Digimon Adventure, the face she gave him says that she is talking to one of the kind of people that watches children shows. It did not matter what she thought, he still loves watching anime regardless. And teaching the boy about “Butter-Fly” was great he thought, gifting that song to a new generation of viewers is a great feeling.  
Tim gets up from the bench and decides he should get back to work. He stands and looks straight up to the sky again, he sees his breath as “Butter-Fly” plays in the back of his head. He does not think of any Christmas songs, only anime at the moment. Laughing at the thought as he begins to walk back towards Wayne Enterprises. Walking by a different group of children, he hears them singing “The Little Drummer Boy.” He looks at them for a moment and starts to hum the song, it is one of his favorite Christmas songs.


	10. Feliz Navidad

Yesterday was a busy and hard day for Cassie. Feeling extremely guilty for the fist fight with Cross Christina that left part of Miami in damages, she felt the need to help pick up all the mess their fight had caused and spent the whole day yesterday helping out the authorities. At the end of the day, the children around rushed towards her to thank her for all the hard work. It did feel like the people were grateful for her help but she cannot help but feel that some people there resented her for the damage as well. The feeling was justified she thought, they do deserve to be angry at her, she did not deserve the praise but she got it anyway.  
Today, Cassie had to meet up with Donna for another photo shoot, they had been hired to model for a big name magazine. Donna had mentioned the name but Cassie already forgot which magazine since she did not really care at that time, her mind was still focused on the other day. She thinks Diana must feel like she does whenever the Cheetah goes after her and the people she hurts just to get to Diana. Cassie thinks she should give her mentor a call and ask her for advice on that later on. Donna must have dealt with what she is feeling too, she would ask her about it later.  
Cassie was still in bed when she decided to do all of this, she grabs her phone to look at the time. 10:19 a.m. on December 23rd, two days before Christmas. Reminding herself that she needs to head back to San Francisco to pick up some things at Titans Tower before seeing her mother. She had called Raven last night to let her know that she was going to be stopping by today, Raven reminds her that she does not need to be informing anyone on the team about her stopping by since she will always be considered part of the team regardless if they are taking a break or not. It gave her a smile to hear that and tells her that she still wanted to let her know anyway.  
The feeling of needing to get out of bed is too immense for her that she forces herself to sit up with her messy hair around her head. She sighs as she wants to lay back on her bed and fall straight to sleep again but the thought of having to do a job for some money is too enticing and she knows Donna will chew her head off if she misses this shoot for whatever reason Cassie can come up with. She sighs again, she needs to get off her bed but her body is telling her otherwise. Today is going to be a long day she tells herself as she drags herself out of the most soft thing in her life at the moment.

It is never easy doing the kind of job she does, she finds it quite embarrassing actually. It scares her a little bit at how she can force a pretty smile at will, it was never easy to show a smile that people thought looked beautiful. All those poses Donna had her do did not help either, she is afraid that getting used to this job is something that needs to happen soon and it is definitely not something she wants to happen but getting paid for it does entice her to continue. It so far seems the safest job she can do at the moment as well, that does not harm anyone else around her. But the thought of other people looking at her in those poses, it does not bring her any joy. Cassie sighs as she leaves Donna’s studio, it is dark out and wonders if she should go to San Francisco at this time. She looks at her phone to check the time, it is 6:57 p.m., the photo shoot went by quicker than she thought. Cassie decides to head to Titans Tower anyway, she is not that tired yet and feels like now is probably the best time to head over there before she has to see her mother tomorrow.  
It is Christmas Eve tomorrow and everyone around the world will most likely be spending it with their loved ones. There might be some people alone she thinks and the thought depresses her a little, her mind turns to Tim and knows that he is going to be by himself. He has not said anything about joining his adoptive family for Christmas, she had hoped that they would mend their differences but Tim is too much like his mentor, they are both too stubborn for their own good. Trying to shake her mind off of him, she heads back home to get changed before she heads to San Francisco. Hoping to see her friends for a little bit excites her as she hurries herself.

It is convenient that a teleporter has been installed in Miami and also in Titans Tower. Cassie would have taken a bit longer if she had to fly to her destination. She looks around and barely anything is different, she is a little surprised but happy that they decided not to move around everything yet. No one seems to be around, she walks to her room across the tower. She feels it is nice to be back here again after some time away but she does feel a little sad that her friends seem to have went out, they probably went out to eat. They must have waited for her for some time and decided to take off since she was not showing up.  
Nothing really has changed she thought, the living room looks exactly the same but it does look like they got the new gaming consoles that Bart and Gar love to use all the time. Walking past the work out room, she is surprised to see the lights on. Opening the door, she is wondering who is working out at the moment. Before she can stop herself because she realizes that there is one person that is working out at this time, “Wonder bitch?” a voice speaks out, “Raven did say you were planning on visiting.” The one person she did not want to see she thinks to herself, Rose Wilson. They never got along but they have been able to find a way to work with each other, “Roses” she starts to say with some disdain, “I was kind of hoping to see some friends but not you.” It sounded like a joke but Cassie kind of meant it and Rose knew that. A laugh leaves their mouths, “Spar with me,” Rose is telling her, not asking. Cassie is obliged to do so.

She is panting after their spar and their long talk. Cassie lately felt like she can talk to Rose more openly after working with each other for so long. She reveals her feelings for Tim to Rose and it makes her laugh, it seems like it is not much of a secret about her growing feelings. She giggles as she realizes that she has not kept that secret hidden that well. “Are you finally going to tell him?” Rose asks her finally, “Maybe” is all Cassie can tell her.  
Her new friend goes off in a rant that they should just get together already and they need to do that now since it is Christmas. It seems like the perfect time to do so Rose explains to her and they might as well sleep with each other she continues. Cassie blushes at the thought but it is not something she is against if they do get together.  
They keep talking as the night keeps on going, they have fun with their talk. It is not something either of them thought would ever happen to them since they did hate each other when they both finally met. They are both glad that they can talk normally now, about the people they love.


	11. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yesterday was a busy and hard day for Cassie. Feeling extremely guilty for the fist fight with Cross Christina that left part of Miami in damages, she felt the need to help pick up all the mess their fight had caused and spent the whole day yesterday helping out the authorities. At the end of the day, the children around rushed towards her to thank her for all the hard work. It did feel like the people were grateful for her help but she cannot help but feel that some people there resented her for the damage as well. The feeling was justified she thought, they do deserve to be angry at her, she did not deserve the praise but she got it anyway.  
Today, Cassie had to meet up with Donna for another photo shoot, they had been hired to model for a big name magazine. Donna had mentioned the name but Cassie already forgot which magazine since she did not really care at that time, her mind was still focused on the other day. She thinks Diana must feel like she does whenever the Cheetah goes after her and the people she hurts just to get to Diana. Cassie thinks she should give her mentor a call and ask her for advice on that later on. Donna must have dealt with what she is feeling too, she would ask her about it later.  
Cassie was still in bed when she decided to do all of this, she grabs her phone to look at the time. 10:19 a.m. on December 23rd, two days before Christmas. Reminding herself that she needs to head back to San Francisco to pick up some things at Titans Tower before seeing her mother. She had called Raven last night to let her know that she was going to be stopping by today, Raven reminds her that she does not need to be informing anyone on the team about her stopping by since she will always be considered part of the team regardless if they are taking a break or not. It gave her a smile to hear that and tells her that she still wanted to let her know anyway.  
The feeling of needing to get out of bed is too immense for her that she forces herself to sit up with her messy hair around her head. She sighs as she wants to lay back on her bed and fall straight to sleep again but the thought of having to do a job for some money is too enticing and she knows Donna will chew her head off if she misses this shoot for whatever reason Cassie can come up with. She sighs again, she needs to get off her bed but her body is telling her otherwise. Today is going to be a long day she tells herself as she drags herself out of the most soft thing in her life at the moment.

It is never easy doing the kind of job she does, she finds it quite embarrassing actually. It scares her a little bit at how she can force a pretty smile at will, it was never easy to show a smile that people thought looked beautiful. All those poses Donna had her do did not help either, she is afraid that getting used to this job is something that needs to happen soon and it is definitely not something she wants to happen but getting paid for it does entice her to continue. It so far seems the safest job she can do at the moment as well, that does not harm anyone else around her. But the thought of other people looking at her in those poses, it does not bring her any joy. Cassie sighs as she leaves Donna’s studio, it is dark out and wonders if she should go to San Francisco at this time. She looks at her phone to check the time, it is 6:57 p.m., the photo shoot went by quicker than she thought. Cassie decides to head to Titans Tower anyway, she is not that tired yet and feels like now is probably the best time to head over there before she has to see her mother tomorrow.  
It is Christmas Eve tomorrow and everyone around the world will most likely be spending it with their loved ones. There might be some people alone she thinks and the thought depresses her a little, her mind turns to Tim and knows that he is going to be by himself. He has not said anything about joining his adoptive family for Christmas, she had hoped that they would mend their differences but Tim is too much like his mentor, they are both too stubborn for their own good. Trying to shake her mind off of him, she heads back home to get changed before she heads to San Francisco. Hoping to see her friends for a little bit excites her as she hurries herself.

It is convenient that a teleporter has been installed in Miami and also in Titans Tower. Cassie would have taken a bit longer if she had to fly to her destination. She looks around and barely anything is different, she is a little surprised but happy that they decided not to move around everything yet. No one seems to be around, she walks to her room across the tower. She feels it is nice to be back here again after some time away but she does feel a little sad that her friends seem to have went out, they probably went out to eat. They must have waited for her for some time and decided to take off since she was not showing up.  
Nothing really has changed she thought, the living room looks exactly the same but it does look like they got the new gaming consoles that Bart and Gar love to use all the time. Walking past the work out room, she is surprised to see the lights on. Opening the door, she is wondering who is working out at the moment. Before she can stop herself because she realizes that there is one person that is working out at this time, “Wonder bitch?” a voice speaks out, “Raven did say you were planning on visiting.” The one person she did not want to see she thinks to herself, Rose Wilson. They never got along but they have been able to find a way to work with each other, “Roses” she starts to say with some disdain, “I was kind of hoping to see some friends but not you.” It sounded like a joke but Cassie kind of meant it and Rose knew that. A laugh leaves their mouths, “Spar with me,” Rose is telling her, not asking. Cassie is obliged to do so.

She is panting after their spar and their long talk. Cassie lately felt like she can talk to Rose more openly after working with each other for so long. She reveals her feelings for Tim to Rose and it makes her laugh, it seems like it is not much of a secret about her growing feelings. She giggles as she realizes that she has not kept that secret hidden that well. “Are you finally going to tell him?” Rose asks her finally, “Maybe” is all Cassie can tell her.  
Her new friend goes off in a rant that they should just get together already and they need to do that now since it is Christmas. It seems like the perfect time to do so Rose explains to her and they might as well sleep with each other she continues. Cassie blushes at the thought but it is not something she is against if they do get together.  
They keep talking as the night keeps on going, they have fun with their talk. It is not something either of them thought would ever happen to them since they did hate each other when they both finally met. They are both glad that they can talk normally now, about the people they love.


	12. All I Want for Christmas is You

They had agreed to meet in civilian clothing, for some odd reason Tim felt a little strange to meet Cassie in his work clothes and decided against doing that to which she agreed only if she can meet him at Gotham. He was planning on going to Titans Tower to see her, assuming she would want to meet there to force a meeting between him and his friends but avoiding the Titans is better he thought, that way he would have her to himself he thought. He thought it was supposed to be colder tonight compared to last night but he felt a little warmer. Noticing that he was getting anxious to see Cassie again after some time.  
She had quite the busy day. Yesterday, Tim had messaged her and she was with her mother at that moment. Spending yesterday until this morning with her mother to catch up and spend part of the holiday with someone she cared deeply for. After that the Titans were having a get together for all the current and former members, he was invited as well but Dick was going to be there as was Conner. He still had not spoken to either of them. Expecting to meet up with her before the party, he was again surprised by her suggestion to meet up after the party, he thought she would want to end the day by spending it with her friends. He tries his best to not look too much into her decisions, he felt like he does not want to read the situation wrong again like the time she broke up with him after their second encounter with their future selves.  
The place they agreed to meet up at is the park right outside of Wayne Enterprises. Tim had suggested it, it had become one of his favorite places to walk around recently and at night it was quite beautiful to be around with all the Christmas lights. It could be interpreted as being a romantic spot actually but he thinks that it will fly over Cassie’s head and just think of this get together as two friends seeing each other for Christmas.  
“Of course you’d be here already, waiting for me,” he hears from behind him. He was distracted by the thought of seeing Cassie again that he had forgotten to keep an eye out to spot her coming, he is only human and he still does not have the experience Bruce has. “I hope I didn’t make you wait too long,” she says with a giggle. Tim sees her walking towards her, seeing the snow fall on her, the stars shined over her. He always thought she looked like an angel, he wants to grab hold of her and kiss her. “I didn’t wait long,” he starts to say, he had been waiting there for some time already, he has been feeling anxious the whole time. His heart starts to race, he regrets being there with a gift, feeling stupid to ask her to see him today. She is not dumb he thinks to himself, she must know that he has given himself away and she agreed to meet him anyway. Tim tells himself not to overthink things again when dealing with Cassie Sandsmark.  
He gets up from the bench and walks towards her, they hug each other. The urge to kiss her is hard to resist but he somehow finds a way to fight that urge. Leading her towards the tree they start to talk about the day they have been having.

“So, Alfred convinced you to text me?” she asks, “I was hoping you’d want to see me without anyone having to push you.” Tim laughs, “You know me, I need someone there to push me to do something I’m second guessing of doing, Cassie,” he says to her as he takes another sip of his cup of hot chocolate. She smiles at him, “Well, you must’ve wanted to see me, Alfred wouldn”t’ve pushed you if you didn’t want to see me, right?” she places her head on her palm. He looks at her eyes, always think she had very pretty eyes, “Who doesn’t want to see Wonder Girl alone?” he teases her and notices her blush. He thinks Cassie is quite beautiful under all the Christmas lights tonight, “Your blushing” he continues to tease. “My flirting skills getting better?” Cassie’s face turns to an annoyed look, “I wish you’d stop teasing me, you know how easily I can fall for that crap since that doesn’t happen to me.” “That’s really hard to believe,” he says to her, “You must get all the guys around our age to stare at you. Especially now that you’re modeling, in all those poses.” He starts to picture her most recent appearance on Maxim, she was quite sexy looking in that issue he thinks to himself.  
“Stop teasing me, Tim” she says again, she was starting to get serious. “I’m just saying it’s hard to believe, that’s it.” Cassie giggles at him, “Well, then” she looks straight at his eyes, “Are you one of those guys that loves to ogle at women in sexy poses?” she caught him off guard. He would just shrug off her teasing but tonight, he felt different, he wanted to play with her some more, “Hm. What if I am one of those guys?” he asks, “Would that bother you, if I buy those magazines you appear in?” She did not expect him to respond to her teasing with another tease of his, she takes her head off of her palm and her face becomes too red, she was burning up. “You’re not being funny, Tim” she finally says after he sees her open her mouth wide before she said anything else. A smile forms on his face, she is interested now and he was starting to realize that he can play some more, “But you want to know if I really do buy those magazines with you in it, right?”  
Some strangers walk up to their table and start to sing “O Holy Night”, Tim did not get the chance to hear her response. They turn their attention to the carolers and enjoy the song they are singing as the snow continues to fall over all of them. He is happy that he is spending a White Christmas with someone he is in love with.

“You need to talk to them, Tim” she says with some authority, “To all of them.” Cassie continued to rant about Tim needing to be open up again to Dick and the Titans. He had not spoken to any of them after his problems with Damian started to reach it’s climax. They had not agreed with the way he dealt with it but he believes he is in the right, he felt like it was the only way he could have dealt with it. “They won’t listen to my reasoning then, why would they do so now?” he counters. They were getting annoyed with each other, they were both being stubborn about the subject.  
Tim already knew that Cassie agreed with the others but understood where he was coming from. She had learned to trust his judgement but to a certain extent, she thought he could have come up with a better plan, he should have she thought. Their argument continues as they walk to his apartment.   
They can see each other’s breath under the moonlight. She might be annoying him right now but it will not stop him from wanting to kiss her. Tim is trying his best not to stare at her, hoping she has not noticed that he cannot stop looking at her. “You keep looking my way,” she says in a soft voice which he could barely hear but he could still hear her, “am I that good looking for you to keep looking?” Cassie was still teasing him, “I mean, I know I’m good looking but you’ve met better looking women than me, Tim.”  
Feeling lucky they are walking in the snow, in the cold weather with the soft breeze. She kept surprising him with her observations, it must be her Amazon training that Artemis must have given her years ago. Tim assumed he had done a better job for her not to notice his looks, he feels embarrassed and does not want to answer her. It feels like he has to admit his love her but then he remembers that is what he would like to do, he starts to look at the possibilities of a future with her would be.

Cassie is standing next to him on a beach as the sun sets, a beautiful view to lose themselves to. She leans closer to him and lays her head on his shoulder, he looks to her and leans in as well and they both kiss each other. They are running across the beach now, in a similar way to how Kamille Bidan and Fa Yuiry were running with each other at the end of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, with smiles on their faces. They are having another fight this time, it feels like that is all they can do. Their fights keep getting worse and they both question if being together is even worth it. The thought of ending it is considered and they decide to end their relationship. They are getting married next, they look happy to be sharing the vows that bind them together for the rest of their lives. Tim can hear a baby crying near him, he has their eye color, his smile is quite beautiful he thinks to himself. They grow old with each other and pass away together holding hands until their last breath.

There are a lot of possibilities for what can happen to them if a relationship were to be entered by both of them. They can be happy or they can learn to hate each other. Whatever choice they make, whatever choice Tim makes now they will not be going back to the way things were. He is going to lose that part now, all because he failed to conceal himself better. The urge to laugh is hard to resist but he is able to do so. Kissing Cassie is what he wants to do the most and it is all he can think about, touching her lips with his.  
Wanting to think like his mentor is the first thing that comes to mind, to run away from this feeling because he thinks the mission should come first instead of what he wants. He starts to shake as he does not want to play with her anymore and his mind decides that he should reject the feeling of love, he should sacrifice his happiness for others. “I thought I was better at hiding,” he starts to say, then all of a sudden he starts to think in a different way, “I’m starting to think that it’s hard to hide my feelings from you. Well, I’m starting to get tired of hiding my feelings.”  
She does not say anything, he is not looking at her, so he does not know that she has a surprised look on her face. “I’ve wanted to leave you, and Conner, alone because I’ve always thought you two should be together. You love each other but you won’t get back together. You both are fighting that feeling or maybe you two really no longer have the same feelings,” he continues to tell her as they get closer to his apartment. “I’ve felt this way for a long time, this feeling has been in me for years already. I think I felt this way longer than Conner, maybe around the same time but I’d like to think I fell in love with you first,” he says it still not looking at her. Tim sighs, “I fucking love you, Cassie” he finally says, “You drive me crazy all the time. You flood my head every single day.” He thinks he is babbling too much now, he turns to face her finally. Cassie shoves her face towards him, their lips crash into each other.  
“I love you too, Tim. I’ve realized it for some time already,” she smiles at him and it feels like it is the first time she has given him a smile that it is only for him. Tim smiles back and pulls her in to kiss the cold feeling of her lips, he is almost positive that he will warm up her lips tonight. “Merry Christmas, Cassie. I’m glad you’re right here with me.”


End file.
